by Tom Holloway
After several minutes pass by, I smile, looking at her, and say, “Anna, I could stay here with you forever, yet we should get going. I have much to show you. How about a quick tour of the Cyclone? And then, believe it or not, the planet Jupiter is waiting for us. We are above her. We have been orbiting her for a while. You will like seeing it.”
I continue, “We also have to do a workout. The lack of gravity will damage your muscles quickly and harm your internal organs unless you exercise. It is critical we work out every six hours, or you will deteriorate badly. I am more used to it and have adapted. We have a whole selection of workout machines, including a dance machine you will like. We have some gravity in there, too. This room has been given gravity to help you work out and give your body functions a chance to act normal. The Cyclone can create gravity when needed, sometimes in certain rooms and sometimes in the entire ship; we rotate to create gravity. Also, if we are accelerating or when we create centrifugal force, there is some gravity.”
Anna smiles and nods her head, saying a good workout sounds fine.
We eventually head for the captain’s bridge. I take the long way around to show her around some of the ship. I want to introduce her to the crew, too. I know the Cyclone wants her to look around, for some reason glad she is on board, and I think Anna feels it, too. She is looking everywhere as we float through the ship’s hallway tunnels, pulling on handholds and gliding our way forward.
She is focused on everything she sees, asking interesting questions: “How does the ship supply oxygen? Where are the engines that propel it? How do you cook? What makes it stay up, floating, just suspended? How many people on board, or should I say beings? Are they all aliens? Where do they sleep? Is there any recreation—movies maybe? Do you have weapons on board? How fast does it go, and how far am I from my Earth right now? Do you own a home? Are there other humans like you? Is it like Earth where you’re from?”
Then she looks at me intently. “Henry, have you ever been married?”
I laugh, then respond, “Anna, these are all good questions, and as you spend some time here and see part of our daily operations, you will learn everything about us. One answer for you is that I have never been married. And unfortunately we have no Earth movies. However, we do have virtual reality that seems really real, and some of it will be what you call movies. It gives you any story plot needed, and any recreation or any training you want, for example, all sports: tennis, swimming, snow skiing, basketball, even mountain climbing. Basically the Cyclone supplies everything we need. It maintains oxygen by recycling our air and is able to produce oxygen. It makes our food by transferring energy chemically, yet it looks and tastes like good food, sort of healthy. I insist on regular food for myself, like bread, meat, and eggs, just like on Earth. Everyone here, besides us, is fed per his or her nutrition design package.”
“Everyone breathes like you and me. There is some variation, as it is a mix, which is adjusted by the ship for each of us, created chemically as you breathe. Only you and I were born on Earth. There are no other real humans besides me that I know about—actually none anywhere in the universe. Only on Earth.”
“We do have a brigade of military troopers on board that are my clones and about forty percent human, sixty percent synthetic. They can also hibernate when needed on long trips. The rest are from several different civilizations throughout the universe. There are thousands of separate distinct civilizations out there. These are the ones I know about, that fit in here. There are more.”
Chapter 17
KA*AM, Henry’s Home Planet
Anna asks, “Henry, how about your home planet? I’m curious where you come from. Please tell me about your home—I think you called it KA*AM?”
“Anna, be prepared, as you have asked a huge question with a long answer. First of all, the universe is gargantuan, mostly just space, not much mass. As you know, for traveling across it, it’s much more than immense, more than vast, maybe immeasurable. My home is really the Cyclone, because of all the time spent on the move. Yet my planetary base of operations is my second home, about one hundred and sixty-five light-years away, or nine hundred, eighty-eight trillion miles from here, actually in another galaxy. Yes, as you know, it is called KA*AM.”
“You cannot see it from Earth. It is unknown to you. Everyone there lives in a moisture-soaked atmosphere almost like Earth’s, yet some big differences. You could call it air-water. KA*AM’s mesosphere, where you can still call it air, is a hundred and twenty miles out, much farther out into space than Earth’s, which is fifty miles into outer space. KA*AM’s air is much heavier because there is more of it and more moisture, much more than Earth. The water in the moisture is heavy. KA*AM’s atmosphere is about six thousand quadrillion tons of weight, with KA*AM’s gravity easily holding it in place. This is a lot heavier than Earth’s air. Earth’s atmosphere has a weight of 5.5 quadrillion tons or about a thousand times less.”
“Our sun is also much smaller and not as bright; thus the atmosphere must retain the solar power or we would be excessively cold, not able to survive. I can breathe almost normally there, as I have become used to it. The oxygen content is similar to Earth’s, yet there’s much more moisture, thus the air is heavier, making it harder to breathe. The heavier density also holds the sun’s solar energy, or more simply explained, it stores the heat of the sun. The temperature and weather are moderate, mostly comfortable, never really cold, no snow, and never really hot. Crops grow the entire year. The weather is mostly controlled by us, using gravity for manipulation of the wind and moisture.”
“The gravity is about the same as Earth’s, and the planet is about the same size as Earth. However, we can adjust gravity slightly, just enough to change wind patterns, making it possible to cool or warm the moisture, enough to change weather patterns, creating better efficiency using the sun’s heat.”
Continuing, I say, “Anna, the population is very diverse. Some beings come from other worlds and stay. They look nothing like the way we look or even like the local population. In my opinion they all are handsome in their own ways. We have land farms and freshwater farms, yet no saltwater oceans, or beach terrain, like you know from Earth. It is mostly tropical but has none of Earth’s species, nothing like Earth’s plants or animals. The food is mostly manufactured from plants and something like Earth fish, many varieties, and it is quite good. The issues of eating nutrition pills never caught on, although every century or two someone promotes it. Simple old-fashioned prepared food works best, as sitting down together is a wonderful social event. There are the old ways of eating, too, cooking from scratch. Those who prefer it live that lifestyle, left over from past traditions.”
“There are lake farms everywhere. They grow delicious water plants and many tasty water organisms; some are what you might call fish varieties that are farmed extensively. The menu results are wonderful. Like on Earth, our traditions ask that meals are a family time, and sometimes meals are prepared by the families for other families. Mealtime is an important social event, part of our culture, even if served professionally. No one is ever hungry on KA*AM, and there is no poverty. Everyone has a place and a purpose. The family is more critical than the individual and last for many centuries.”
I smile and look fondly at Anna. “I know you are curious. I have never told anyone about KA*AM. It is hard to describe—better that I give you a vision of it. Anna, please just relax, trust me, and let me into your mind completely—”
Before I can finish, I feel Anna’s instant fear and see panic on her face.
“No, Anna, I promise it will not hurt, and I won’t look around in your memories. They are totally off limits.”
Anna gives me a concerned look, showing somewhat less fear, and then she finally smiles, nods, and closes her eyes. I slowly fill her mind with my mental vision of my adoptive world and friends. As I push into her focus, I feel her relax. It plays like a movie from my memories, and she closes her eyes, her face completely blank. She actually has a ve
ry serene look as my memories download to her; maybe she feels my pleasure, as she even smiles at times. She sees a happy place. She sees my adoptive home world and feels many of my fond memories. She is looking at a world covered by hazy, thick moisture vapor everywhere, like a light fog, as you can see through it, plus many low-lying white clouds, yet some sunlight filtering in. She sees many strange, tall, bright, and colorful dazzling cities coming up through the clouds, reaching high up into the blue skies.
The tall, mirrored skyscrapers are massive, towering way above the clouds, reflecting and absorbing the bright-silver sun rays, yet constantly changing colors, like many rainbows, magical in appearance, and collecting the sun’s power as they are really colossal solar panels. These skyscrapers are many miles high, penetrating into outer space; most of them are almost 130 miles tall and sometimes thirty miles wide. Small passenger airships are coming and going between all smaller buildings, with much activity everywhere. All production and manufacturing are done in these buildings. They are massive inside, millions of square feet.
Anna hears Henry saying, “The silver exterior on the buildings are really massive, extremely effective solar panels, as the buildings are above the clouds. They supply all the energy requirements needed.”
Then, way up, above it all, the starship spaceports are located on top of the tall buildings, 150 miles high, extending into outer space. Beyond them, miles above, in outer space, are the massive starships being built by hundreds of huge drones. These starships are hundreds of miles large. Several are in various stages of production.
The spaceports are the ones where the larger cargo starships are approaching, some many miles long and just as wide. They are docking, letting off passengers and cargo. There is one special building, taller than all the rest, splendid in appearance, actually surprising in its sophistication. This is where the Cyclone comes in to dock, which is always a big event with the entire population watching, the anticipation of its arrival a national pastime.
She sees there are beings everywhere, all in a hurry, all shapes and sizes. There are probably some that are different species. Most of them, the main population, are small, three or four feet high. Surprisingly enough they are very good-looking to her. They even look familiar to her: friendly and happy. They are marvelous! She feels at home, feels their warmth, and even misses them. Impossible. It must be Henry’s feelings coming through to her. She feels Henry’s fondness for them.
Her vision moves on, as if on a bird’s flight, moving quickly over land. She is looking down at many massive high, dark-green mountains protruding from the vapor-dense clouds, then narrow, deep, dark valleys thick with fog partially covering many crystal-clear, fast-moving rivers, looking dark green, with rough white currents. And then, surprisingly, she sees many bodies of water with many oversize islands that seem unending, comprised of lush green landscapes shaded by masses of vegetation suspended in air by trees spaced evenly across the land.
Then she sees the massive dark-emerald-green tropical forests covering the swamps and thousands of five-hundred-foot-tall ancient trees everywhere, yet spaced evenly, looming up out of the clinging fog with more lush vegetation suspended from most of their branches, hanging down like a woman’s long hair. Flowers and fruitlike objects are many, with wonderful colors, not like Earth plants or colors yet marvelous. Lakes are also everywhere, also spaced evenly, and many look like farms, as about every inch has either seaweed-type crops or enormous fish beds populated with thousands of things that look like small fish. Some look like silver sardines; others look more like wiggly things. Anna wonders what they taste like and thinks this must be a great source of protein for the population.
Low, light fog clouds, absorbing the sun’s energy and protecting the surface, are moving in the light breeze and are everywhere, streaming like water flowing in a river. Yet there is bright sunshine above these fog clouds, and it filters down to the land, providing the energy it needs to sustain life.
The land area seems equal, about 50 percent solid ground and then the rest scattered water, yet no saltwater oceans and few individual houses. It is a mixture of thousands of islands, with swamps and freshwater lakes everywhere, two or three miles apart, yet all are spaced evenly. The water is part of everyone’s life. There are some large buildings on stilts in the water and then many massive tree houses high in the large limbs, looking cozy. The buildings are similar to Earth structures yet composed of a synthetic material and smooth, with no angled corners, only rounded edges. They are all shades of green and blue, as if they are camouflaged to melt into the trees or landscape. Fog hangs everywhere, yet many gaps let the sun shine through.
Anna marvels, as this world is beautiful in its own way yet completely alien, populated with these handsome beings that are definitely not human to her and definitely another species. The colors are also wonderful here, constant rainbows, and lush, dark-green landscapes, really dark-blue water, next to land of a fertile, almost black dirt, growing odd-looking, leafy plants, which are deep green. There are also ancient granite mountains in the distance, wrapped in fog, backed by deep-blue skies, not anything like Earth, a much darker blue sky. All the mountains are massive, blue gray and dark green, snow-tipped white, high above the surface of the ground, which is covered by a heavy, moist atmosphere of fog-like clouds, also clinging to the trees covering the sloping sides. Higher up, way up above the mountains, above the steep cliffs, thick white clouds are billowing everywhere, thousands of feet above, much higher than Earth clouds. She wonders if there were ever storms or violent winds in the past, as it’s rare to have light breezes only, especially with so much heavy moisture. There are currents, and she can see the effects. She can see the air moving like real rivers of water, as it is saturated with so much moisture, like a thick fog flowing, dripping with water.
Anna looks up. The vision is done. She is exhausted and also excited, her emotions in turmoil. She laughs and says, “Henry, Hollywood needs this! It is astonishing what you did to me. It is incredible. I can’t describe it. It’s really amazing and unnerving at the same time. It is like watching a movie in my brain except the colors are so clear. I can smell the forests, hear the rivers, see all the white clouds, feel the coolness of the moisture in the air, and I feel your presence and the warm feelings you have for those beings, especially all the little ones. They are so small; they look like slender fairies, so beautiful, so graceful, with large noses with big nostrils and very large soft-brown eyes, like the kind eyes of deer. They have gorgeous facial features, so refined and so human, too. Their slender, long legs and arms are wonderful. Magical! I think their hands and feet are webbed, yet the fingers and toes extend beyond the webbing; the fingers are so delicate, long, and slender. Some have long, beautiful silver hair on their heads, or maybe light blond, and their hair sparkles when they move. Their clothing looks silky, flowing with their movement and blended colors. Their skin looks soft, colored by white, brown, and silver freckles, like a fawn.”
She is wondering, They are quite amazing. Who are they? Can they fly like fairies? She thinks she saw them flying. Are they fairies? Are they Henry’s friends? Is Gabriel there? Are there different sexes, like on Earth? Does Henry like it there? Do they eat like we do? Do they have children like we do, get pregnant and have babies and raise them? Does Henry have a home there? And good friends? They are so different from us yet beautiful in their own way. Do they have vehicles like we do, like cars, although I saw none? How do they get around?
Laughing, Henry responds, “Anna, please hold on. They do not have cars, and use power beams for small trips. The longer trips are in tunnels under the surface that are like subways except there is no gravity, and the tunnels are more like tubes that go everywhere, air-powered. The speed is really fast, and they are safe, and they also keep the surfaces of roads clean. They are underground as they conserve land for other better use.”
Continuing, I say, “There’s a lot to talk about. You asked if I have many friends there; yes, some ar
e good friends. They are a lovely people, and they are called Allos. They are part of a large race spread over several worlds, many billions of them. They are like us yet not like us. First of all they can swim well, especially because of their webbed feet and hands. They also can fly short distances, as they have small wings off their arms and legs. The heavy water-saturated air helps them fly, and there is a little less gravity there, too. Plus their filament wings will extend, expanding from their arms and legs, looking like Earth bat wings and only spread when needed. They are very light, thus they are quick. They look like fairies when they fly or similar to fast-moving butterflies. I have wondered if that is where we got the myth of fairies on Earth, maybe coming from seeing the Allos that have visited in previous centuries. Who knows?”
“Yes, they have children, yet not like we do. There is no sex mating like we do, and they do not pair off like us. They have large family groups, and the children are hatched, not like birds but more like clear fetus sacs they can carry and nurture, mostly kept in a safe spot for two years. The fetus sac comes from the designated mother, conceived by mental melding of the family; they all contribute DNA for the reproductive process. The child is a product of the entire family, DNA designed by the family, and raised by the family group, normally forty to sixty members living together, sometimes more. New members, other than children or those not related, are invited into a family by the elders, depending on circumstances.”
“I am part of a family the elders invited me into; I am still a member and will always be part of this family. I cannot contribute DNA to the reproduction process. However, I am considered a provider and nurturer plus I have specific responsibilities.”
“The Allos mostly live forever. They are immortal, and except for being killed in accidents they keep living. Thus a family has only four or five children every fifty or sixty years. A child takes about fifty years to be raised. Most of them are very old in Earth years. Some are ancient, yet all still look very young because they do not age as we do. They are slender to the point of almost being fragile. They are much smaller than us, averaging four feet tall; some are five feet at the tallest possible height. Their skin is a light color, soft to touch, and they have two sexes like us. The females have light-brown eyes mostly. The males always have dark-blue eyes. The differences between the sexes are small, unlike humans.”
